US President Donald Trump has praised billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to cut federal spending, as the Tesla boss departs his administration after a chaotic tenure that saw the elimination of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in contracts.
Musk, who headed the Department of Government Efficiency, disrupted numerous agencies across the federal bureaucracy but ultimately fell far short of the massive savings he had initially promised.
A White House official said on Wednesday that Musk would be leaving the administration.
“Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations,” Trump said from behind the Resolute Desk, as Musk stood to his right, wearing a black DOGE hat and a T-shirt that read “The Dogefather” in the style of the movie “The Godfather.”
In recent days, Musk had prompted some frustration among White House officials by criticising Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill as too expensive.
Some senior aides, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, saw Musk’s remarks on the tax bill as an open break from the administration, with Miller particularly irked by the comments.
There was no evidence of tension during the joint appearance on Friday, where Trump said Musk would continue to play a role in his administration.
“Elon is really not leaving,” Trump said.
“He’s going to be back and forth.”
Initially, the White House and senior aides insisted Musk, the world’s richest man, was a key figure who wasn’t going anywhere.
But more recently, they began pointing to the expiration of his 130-day mandate as a special government employee, which was set to end around May 30, as a natural endpoint.
Musk has said he intends to devote most of his energy to his business empire, including Tesla and SpaceX, after some investors expressed concern that DOGE was occupying too much of his time.
He has also said he plans to ratchet back his political spending, after he spent nearly $US300 million ($A467 million) backing Trump’s presidential campaign and those of other Republicans in 2024.
Musk initially claimed DOGE would slash at least $US2 ($A3.1) trillion in federal spending.
Four months into its efforts, DOGE now estimates it has saved $US175 billion ($A272 billion).
But the details it has posted on its website, where it gives the only public accounting of those changes, add up to less than half of that figure.
US Treasury summaries reviewed by Reuters show that the agencies targeted by DOGE have cut about $US19 billion ($A30 billion) in combined spending compared to the same period last year, far below Musk’s original target and amounting to just about 0.5 per cent of total federal expenditures.
Musk said on Friday that he would continue to serve as a Trump adviser and expressed confidence that DOGE would eventually achieve much deeper savings.
“This is not the end of DOGE but really the beginning,” he said.
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